Aviation news...

Went to the meeting held by the Duxford IWM director to update representatives from the local community - so there were people from Whittlesford, Pampisford, Fowlmere, Duxford, Ickleton and Hinxton Parish councils. Ther museum is facing the challenge of a reducing government grant and therefore the need to grow its income streams. The three main items on the agenda where:

- their forward plan looking ahead 10 years;

- the impact on air safety of the recent Shoreham air crash;

- the planning application from Vetspeed which would involve a chimney along the A505 in the flight path approaching the airfield.

The main thing I took away from the forward plan discussion was the need to link their transport thinking in with the plans for expansion of other sites nearby such as the Wellcome Trust. They were keen to increase the numbers of visitors attending by public transport - but at the moment there is no real bus service from Whittlesford train station.

The Shoreham air crash has meant that the safety regulators are saying that flying should be further away from the M11, which segued into a long discussion about the proposals for a waste to energy plant by Vetspeed at the current Pet Crem site, and the potential impact on flying at the IWM. The museum has lodged a formal objection, on the grounds of aircraft safety. It is all to do with whether the chimney proposed is too high for flying - the IWM says it is, the Vetspeed advisers say it isnt. 

Parked next to a VC10 - a great plane that I remember from my childhood flying out to the Middle East - no inflight movies then - a boiled sweet and a book to keep you going all the way to Beirut. Inshallah!